The Princess and the Pauper
by Wordmage Kazzidae
Summary: This is set in the first season shortly after Nico joins the group. As a big NicoMaki fan I've always tried to find a way to justify their spiky relationship (beyond them simply being tsundere) and this short story is an attempt to establish that dynamic. The reciprocal to this would of course be Maki finding out about Nico's home life, which I may write. Or not. Either way, enjoy.


Nico paused before opening the door to her clubroom. It wasn't her clubroom, of course, not anymore – now it belonged to that bossy second year and her friends, not to mention the first years they'd dragged along with them. Although Nico had recognised them as fellow school idols and allowed them to use her clubroom, that didn't mean there wasn't going to be an adjustment period.

She opened the door. There was someone already in there, the red-haired first year. She started at Nico's entrance, almost as though she'd been caught doing something wrong.

Nico ignored her completely. She closed the door behind herself and strode to the other side of the room, taking her place at the head of the table. Even if the room wasn't just hers anymore, she could still keep her pride of place. She set down her bag and took her seat, arms crossed and eyes closed.

An uneasy silence lay heavy on the air.

"Um, Nico-?"

"Listen here, Red," Nico interrupted her instantly.

"Red?" said Maki, her face turning that same colour. "My name is-"

"I know what your name is, I was making a point," said Nico abruptly, only now opening her eyes to look directly at Maki. "Let me make this absolutely clear so that things will be easier for us both in future, okay? I may have accepted the group, but I haven't accepted you. Nor do I plan to."

"What? But what have I done?"

"It's got nothing to do with what you've done and everything to do with who you are." Nico leaned forward on the table, head hung low between her shoulders as she gave Maki an unmistakably hostile look. "I don't like people like you. I don't want to be friends with you. I don't want you to talk to me unless you absolutely have to. Do your absolute best to stay the hell away from me and everything will be just fine, you get me?"

Maki was at a loss for words. Never before in her life had she been so completely and utterly rejected by another human being – and not even because she'd done something wrong. She felt the hot flush of anger prickle up her neck and across her face.

"What exactly do you mean, 'people like you'? People like who?" Maki demanded, her voice raising without her knowledge.

"Spoilt brats," said Nico simply, leaning back in her chair as though the heat of Maki's anger was merely a warm sun giving her a tan. "It's absolutely no secret who you are, Maki – rather, young Miss Nishikino, heiress to a family fortune and medical empire. You caused quite the fuss when you enrolled in our humble little school, you know – and I'm sure you quite enjoyed being the centre of attention. Kids like you always do," Nico added darkly.

"That is absolutely not true!" said Maki hotly. Her hands came down on the table rather harder than she'd meant them to, which caused her to pause for a second in regret, but then she continued. "I chose to come here because I was tired of being treated like I'm special! I wanted to know what it's like to be normal!"

"Oh yes, I'm sure you've often fantasised about what it must be like to be a commoner while living in that palace you call home," said Nico, her voice simply dripping with derision. "I bet you even find it thrilling sharing a school with peasants like us."

"I don't think of you like that at all!"

"Oh really?" The tension in the air between the two girls' eyes had an almost electric quality to it. "That's why you came here, isn't it? Because we're all 'normal' girls, so unlike the elite you normally pal around with. You came here because we're different from you, so you could have fun looking at us like we're animals in a zoo."

"I didn't-!" It was Maki who interrupted herself this time. She could feel the oncoming tears like a heavy lump in her throat that stopped her speaking. "Why are you being so mean to me?"

"Because you've been pampered your whole life," said Nico, with less venom than Maki had expected. She said it almost matter-of-factly. "You've never wanted for anything, never had anyone say no to you, never had anyone hurt you. You wanted to learn what it's like to be a normal person? This is what it feels like. That shock, that anger, that sadness – all of that is part of what it means to live in the real world. Get used to it."

"That… isn't true." Although each word grated against her raw throat like sandpaper, Maki spoke. "I have been denied before. My father first said he wouldn't allow me to come here. He already knew which school he'd send me to – he'd had it planned practically ever since I was born. But I fought him. I made him listen to me."

Nico shrugged. "So you stamped your pretty little foot and made your daddy give you what your spoiled heart desired."

Maki wanted to scream at Nico – but somehow, what came out of her mouth next was a strangled whisper, almost so quiet Nico couldn't hear it.

"You have no idea what it's like. You haven't had your entire future planned out for you since before you were born. You haven't had to live your life on rails that were laid down for you by someone else, never wondering whether you might want to wander and explore for yourself. You've never had to deal with the weight of people expecting you to be the absolute best in everything you do."

Maki looked up at Nico, her eyes shining with tears. Maki took a small amount of satisfaction seeing Nico being taken aback.

"And you know the worst thing? They don't even praise you for being the best. It's just what's expected. To them, the best is average. They're not raising a child, they're building a doll – and every time I fail to follow their plan for the perfect daughter, it's a failure they never let me forget."

Nico recollected herself. "So what? You never have to worry about whether you'll be able to provide for yourself or your family. It's security."

"It's prison."

Nico wanted to retort, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to. She hadn't expected this plastic princess to be so… real. Seeing this normally composed, perfect-looking honour student heiress with tears running down her face felt so strange. Was this what Nico had wanted?

"I came here because I wanted a way out," said Maki. "A brief reprieve before I'm sent off to medical school to become the doctor my parents always wanted me to be. I needed to find a passion, something simple, something pure, something that I could lose myself in…" Maki swallowed, the lump in her throat lessening slightly. "…and I found it. That idiot Honoka, always getting involved in other people's business, shoving her nose into matters that don't concern her…" Maki smiled bittersweetly. "…she got through to me. Even though I resisted every step of the way, she brought me around to the idea of sharing my passion with others."

Nico actually took a moment to reflect on this. "Yeah. She has a way of doing that."

"So regardless of whether you understand my reasons, I'm going to be a school idol and compose music for all of you. So you'll just have to put up with me."

Nico smiled, with just one side of her mouth. "Hey. You can talk tough if you try. Although you're not going to scare anyone with that face." Nico fished in her bag for a handkerchief. "Here." She handed it to Maki.

Maki looked momentarily at a loss. "…But I have my own-"

"Use it." Nico stared at her flatly. Maki meekly accepted, drying her tears.

"You're, uh… not being as mean to me as you were before," Maki observed as she returned the handkerchief to Nico.

"You're not being as stuck-up as you were before," said Nico, smirking at Maki.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" demanded Maki, although not very convincingly.

"It means I don't hate you. Now you're just annoying, like everyone else."

"Did you hear that? She said we're annoying!"

"Honoka! Shush!"

Nico and Maki exchanged glances. Those voices may have been coming from the other side of the door but they were still very audible.

"Girls, why don't you come on in?" said Nico aloud.

The door swung open. "Oh hey Nico! What a coincidence that I happened to be outside just as you said that!" said Honoka, laughing awkwardly. The rest of the group followed her inside, having the decency to look rather more sheepish – Umi and Hanayo in particular looked mortified.

"How much of that did you hear?" asked Maki sharply.

"What? We've only just got here!" said Rin, trying desperately to prop up Honoka's charade.

"You guys have got to be the worst liars I have ever seen," said Nico, her eyes flat as a dead fish.

"Only a few words," said Umi, caving to the pressure of Nico and Maki staring them down. "Really, we haven't been here long!"

"…Fine," said Nico at long last.

"Although, would it be all right to ask what you two were talking about?" asked Kotori, who seemed to be looking very closely at Maki's face. Maki looked away towards Nico as nonchalantly as she could, which is to say not very.

"Oh, I was just helping her through some personal stuff," said Nico, smiling in a saintly manner. "We're best friends now, aren't we Maki?"

"What? But you didn't say that at all!"

"It's nice to see them getting along so well," said Hanayo, accompanied by a vigorously nodding Rin.

"That makes no sense! What are you even saying?" Maki pouted and turned away in a huff. Nico reflected that it might not be altogether a bad thing, seeing her like that. It was actually strangely endearing to think that such a calm and mature girl could still be so childish at times.

And if what Maki had said about her upbringing was true, perhaps she hadn't been given a chance to be a child. Nico knew all about what that felt like.

So perhaps she could tolerate being around this spoilt princess for a little while longer. For all her talk of the real world, Nico didn't really know how much there was in common between the opposite sides of the coin. Finding out might be an interesting journey.


End file.
